I'm currently building a warlock (a class I have not played yet) with a genie patron. I want some other people's thoughts on playing it, as I am taught if I should choose an Efreeti or a Dao as the patron. I'm not necessarily for or against focusing on dealing damage or having utility, I just want to have fun and I have a really hard time making choices. I might also try to avoid Eldritch Blast because I am worried that having it will lead me to do the same thing in most combat situations. I feel this is all coming off as a trivial and silly thing to be conflicted on, but I have somehow convinced myself that, if I don't build this character right, I won't have fun playing it (which I know is not true). Nonetheless, below are short explanations and my thought process on each genie type and details on the character as a whole. I am very open to any ideas that I have not thought about, like I said, I haven't played Warlock so I don't know what to expect.
Efreeti Genie (Earth Genasi): I was thinking of leaning towards Pact of the Blade for this build to utilize the fire shield spell and the bonus action blade ward granted by the Earth Genasi feature. I guess I don't have too much to add other than probably picking up the Fey Touched feat for a misty step to get out of bad situations and either the sleep spell or hunter's mark. In this build, I would probably focus a bit more on combat and damage.
Dao Genie (Earth Genasi): I know that using Spike Growth in tandem with Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar to deal good damage, but I don't plan to use Eldritch Blast, so some possible alternatives are using the Telekinetic feat or Rebuke of the Talisman or some other thing I probably forgot about. This build probably would have a bit more focus on utility, so I have been having a hard time deciding if I should choose the Pact of the Tome, Chain, or Talisman.
The Character Itself: The character is a noble genasi who is a mix of two elements (fire and earth). I am flavoring the genie patron to be the mother of this character and the father to be a normal genasi Nobel (thus the character becoming a mix of two elements). The character's skin is the color and texture of red clay and their hair is bright and somewhat looks like magma (similar to what a fire genasi's hair might look like). I know this paragraph is mostly about flavor, but I wanted to include it.
Once again I am open to any ideas or opinions. Thank you for your time. Also, A very reasonable response can be telling me to stop overthinking because I overthink a lot.
I think, if you're going to avoid using Eldritch Blast, then I think your Efreeti build is a better option, since you already have plans for how to still output damage reliably. I think it's a particularly clever combo to take for an Earth Genasi to use your bonus action Blade Ward for some extra defense. Fey Touched is also a solid choice... Misty Step is useful for a Gish character like this, but it's hard to justify using your actual pact slots on casting it. I will say that there's no point taking Hunter's Mark when you could just take Hex... Hex gives you a little more battlefield control, since you can use it to give your target disadvantage on, for example... STR checks to make it easier for your ally to grapple them, or even just to non-lethally incapacitate someone you don't want to succeed at a particular task. Hex also boosts damage to all attack rolls... both weapon attacks and spells, but Hunter's Mark only boosts damage to weapon attacks. On pure mechanics, Bless is always a great spell to grab, although it might clash a bit with the flavor of this character. Sleep is really amazing early on, but it becomes less useful over time. Silvery Barbs is another useful one, but even though one free casting could be a game changer under the right conditions, it's far less useful for a Warlock than it is to another class that gets a larger pool of level 1 spell slots.
I somehow forgot about Hex lol. Part of why I took the fey touched feat was to round out the odd number ability score of my charisma. I'm looking at some other feats now; I'm considering Shadow Touched (invisibility and a necromancy or illusion first-level spell, good options for versatility or inflict wounds) or swapping my score increases and taking Piercer for the +1 dexterity and the bonus along with that. Thank you so much for your input!
A unique combo that you can pull off if you take a Dao Patron is to combine your Genie's Wrath with the Crusher feat. If you have a Dao patron, you can add your proficiency bonus in Bludgeoning damage to any attack you land on your turn. This can be combined with the Crusher feat to get additional battlefield control. I know you're avoiding Eldritch Blast, but you can combine this with Repelling Blast to really knock enemies around the battlefield.
That all said... I think Shadow Touched is a slightly better feat for a Warlock, mostly because Invisibility lasts for an hour, instead of just moving you 30 feet once, as Misty Step does. For a Warlock it's always nice to have other means of casting spells outside of using your pact slots, especially if it's a spell with a long duration that you can take advantage of for an extended period of time. I'd probably avoid Inflict Wounds... it's not a bad spell, necessarily, but it can seem like a trap at times. Especially because it's just one swing, and if you miss, that's your one free cast wasted... I think Disguise Self is probably the most useful spell that Shadow Touched gives you access to. Long Duration, No concentration, major problem solver... of course, as a Warlock you could always take the Mask of Many Faces invocation and just cast Disguise Self for free whenever you feel like it. But the thing about Disguise Self is... it's very rare that you'll have more than one situation come up in a single adventuring day where Disguise Self will solve the problem for you... so if you're considering Mask of Many faces as an invocation for your character, you could probably skip it and pick something else if you use Shadow Touched to learn Disguise Self instead.
I might also try to avoid Eldritch Blast because I am worried that having it will lead me to do the same thing in most combat situations.
I hate to say it, but this is just a part of the warlock class. They just don't have any better actions available on an at-will basis. You can't rely on your spell slots for reliable actions to take because they run out too fast, and pretty much all spellcasters end up spamming their best cantrip when they run out of other options anyway. Might as well use the best one. Genies are decent melee warlocks, but I'd only go that route if you specifically wanted to melee because you kind of have to build around that choice.
EB is a class feature in all but name. It was designed specifically to supplement warlock's unique spellcasting (and to synergize with hex), and the class relies on it to keep up with others. I would recommend embracing it and thinking about other ways you could describe your character's actions (and movement and bonus actions) to keep things from feeling stale.
As for choosing builds, I try to approach these kinds of choices with the mindset that either one will be great, so you can't really choose wrong. If they both feel interesting and fun, it won't matter which one you go with. For me, I'd want to dig into the patron/parent dynamic and the character's dual heritage. Why are they seeking this bond? Why is it transactional in nature? How was the character brought up and how might that culturally clash with the patron? Answering those questions might tip you one way or the other depending on how fire/earth genasi are represented in your campaign.
Funnily enough, I am also currently playing an earth genasi with a fire genasi parent. I named him Ash :)
If you don't like EB, then you could go Pact of the Blade with a melee weapon or a bow. But in this case i would recommend to multiclass a little bit into paladin, fighter, ranger or rogue
Hello, I hope everyone reading this is well!
I'm currently building a warlock (a class I have not played yet) with a genie patron. I want some other people's thoughts on playing it, as I am taught if I should choose an Efreeti or a Dao as the patron. I'm not necessarily for or against focusing on dealing damage or having utility, I just want to have fun and I have a really hard time making choices. I might also try to avoid Eldritch Blast because I am worried that having it will lead me to do the same thing in most combat situations. I feel this is all coming off as a trivial and silly thing to be conflicted on, but I have somehow convinced myself that, if I don't build this character right, I won't have fun playing it (which I know is not true). Nonetheless, below are short explanations and my thought process on each genie type and details on the character as a whole. I am very open to any ideas that I have not thought about, like I said, I haven't played Warlock so I don't know what to expect.
Efreeti Genie (Earth Genasi):
I was thinking of leaning towards Pact of the Blade for this build to utilize the fire shield spell and the bonus action blade ward granted by the Earth Genasi feature. I guess I don't have too much to add other than probably picking up the Fey Touched feat for a misty step to get out of bad situations and either the sleep spell or hunter's mark. In this build, I would probably focus a bit more on combat and damage.
Dao Genie (Earth Genasi):
I know that using Spike Growth in tandem with Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar to deal good damage, but I don't plan to use Eldritch Blast, so some possible alternatives are using the Telekinetic feat or Rebuke of the Talisman or some other thing I probably forgot about. This build probably would have a bit more focus on utility, so I have been having a hard time deciding if I should choose the Pact of the Tome, Chain, or Talisman.
The Character Itself:
The character is a noble genasi who is a mix of two elements (fire and earth). I am flavoring the genie patron to be the mother of this character and the father to be a normal genasi Nobel (thus the character becoming a mix of two elements). The character's skin is the color and texture of red clay and their hair is bright and somewhat looks like magma (similar to what a fire genasi's hair might look like). I know this paragraph is mostly about flavor, but I wanted to include it.
Once again I am open to any ideas or opinions. Thank you for your time. Also, A very reasonable response can be telling me to stop overthinking because I overthink a lot.
I think, if you're going to avoid using Eldritch Blast, then I think your Efreeti build is a better option, since you already have plans for how to still output damage reliably. I think it's a particularly clever combo to take for an Earth Genasi to use your bonus action Blade Ward for some extra defense. Fey Touched is also a solid choice... Misty Step is useful for a Gish character like this, but it's hard to justify using your actual pact slots on casting it. I will say that there's no point taking Hunter's Mark when you could just take Hex... Hex gives you a little more battlefield control, since you can use it to give your target disadvantage on, for example... STR checks to make it easier for your ally to grapple them, or even just to non-lethally incapacitate someone you don't want to succeed at a particular task. Hex also boosts damage to all attack rolls... both weapon attacks and spells, but Hunter's Mark only boosts damage to weapon attacks. On pure mechanics, Bless is always a great spell to grab, although it might clash a bit with the flavor of this character. Sleep is really amazing early on, but it becomes less useful over time. Silvery Barbs is another useful one, but even though one free casting could be a game changer under the right conditions, it's far less useful for a Warlock than it is to another class that gets a larger pool of level 1 spell slots.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I somehow forgot about Hex lol. Part of why I took the fey touched feat was to round out the odd number ability score of my charisma. I'm looking at some other feats now; I'm considering Shadow Touched (invisibility and a necromancy or illusion first-level spell, good options for versatility or inflict wounds) or swapping my score increases and taking Piercer for the +1 dexterity and the bonus along with that. Thank you so much for your input!
A unique combo that you can pull off if you take a Dao Patron is to combine your Genie's Wrath with the Crusher feat. If you have a Dao patron, you can add your proficiency bonus in Bludgeoning damage to any attack you land on your turn. This can be combined with the Crusher feat to get additional battlefield control. I know you're avoiding Eldritch Blast, but you can combine this with Repelling Blast to really knock enemies around the battlefield.
That all said... I think Shadow Touched is a slightly better feat for a Warlock, mostly because Invisibility lasts for an hour, instead of just moving you 30 feet once, as Misty Step does. For a Warlock it's always nice to have other means of casting spells outside of using your pact slots, especially if it's a spell with a long duration that you can take advantage of for an extended period of time. I'd probably avoid Inflict Wounds... it's not a bad spell, necessarily, but it can seem like a trap at times. Especially because it's just one swing, and if you miss, that's your one free cast wasted... I think Disguise Self is probably the most useful spell that Shadow Touched gives you access to. Long Duration, No concentration, major problem solver... of course, as a Warlock you could always take the Mask of Many Faces invocation and just cast Disguise Self for free whenever you feel like it. But the thing about Disguise Self is... it's very rare that you'll have more than one situation come up in a single adventuring day where Disguise Self will solve the problem for you... so if you're considering Mask of Many faces as an invocation for your character, you could probably skip it and pick something else if you use Shadow Touched to learn Disguise Self instead.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I hate to say it, but this is just a part of the warlock class. They just don't have any better actions available on an at-will basis. You can't rely on your spell slots for reliable actions to take because they run out too fast, and pretty much all spellcasters end up spamming their best cantrip when they run out of other options anyway. Might as well use the best one. Genies are decent melee warlocks, but I'd only go that route if you specifically wanted to melee because you kind of have to build around that choice.
EB is a class feature in all but name. It was designed specifically to supplement warlock's unique spellcasting (and to synergize with hex), and the class relies on it to keep up with others. I would recommend embracing it and thinking about other ways you could describe your character's actions (and movement and bonus actions) to keep things from feeling stale.
As for choosing builds, I try to approach these kinds of choices with the mindset that either one will be great, so you can't really choose wrong. If they both feel interesting and fun, it won't matter which one you go with. For me, I'd want to dig into the patron/parent dynamic and the character's dual heritage. Why are they seeking this bond? Why is it transactional in nature? How was the character brought up and how might that culturally clash with the patron? Answering those questions might tip you one way or the other depending on how fire/earth genasi are represented in your campaign.
Funnily enough, I am also currently playing an earth genasi with a fire genasi parent. I named him Ash :)
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
If you don't like EB, then you could go Pact of the Blade with a melee weapon or a bow. But in this case i would recommend to multiclass a little bit into paladin, fighter, ranger or rogue
As others have said, for a warlock you either need to use EB or go Pact of the Blade. That is how they are designed.